Shirley Elizabeth Collins MBE (born 5 July 1935) is an English-British folk singer who was a significant contributor to the English Folk Revival of the 1960s and 1970s. She often performed and recorded with her sister Dolly, whose accompaniment on piano and portative organ created unique settings for her sister's plain, austere singing style.
Shirley Collins and her older sister, Dolly, grew up in the Hastings area of East Sussex in a family which kept alive a great love of traditional song. Songs learnt from their grandfather and from their mother's sister, Grace Winborn, were to be important in the sisters' repertoire throughout their career...On leaving school, at the age of 17, Collins enrolled at a teachers' training college in Tooting, south London. However, in London she also involved herself in the early folk revival, making her first appearance on vinyl on the 1955 compilation Folk Song Today. In 1954, at a party hosted by Ewan MacColl, she met Alan Lomax, the American folk collector, who had moved to Britain to avoid the McCarthy witch-hunt, which was then raging in America....(Read more at Wikipedia)
Links to Peel[]
Shirley and Dolly Collins were the first English traditional folk artists to do a Peel session, on the Night Ride of 08 May 1968. They had probably come to his attention due to their collaboration with his favourites the Incredible String Band, having appeared in concert with them in October 1967 and recorded an LP (The Power Of The True Love Knot) produced by ISB manager/producer Joe Boyd. Its pastoral sound was quite different from the hearty style of much traditional folk and appealed to listeners who liked contemporary folk artists such as the ISB or Donovan. In 1969 the sisters released the acclaimed Anthems In Eden, one of the first LPs to be released on EMI's "progressive" label Harvest, despite the fact that it was a collection of folk songs with accompaniment by members of the Early Music Consort. In the album sleevenotes, Peel is thanked for "his kind support".
Poor murdered woman
A second LP for Harvest, Love, Death And The Lady, was also featured by Peel, and the sisters did a second Peel session in 1973. but in the 1970s Shirley Collins also began to appear with electric folk-rock bands. She married Steeleye Span's Ashley Hutchings in 1971, made the LP No Roses in the same year and took part in various projects with Hutchings, which included the Morris On and Son of Morris On albums, and Peel sessions by the Etchingham Steam Band in 1974 and the Albion Dance Band in 1976. After another album with sister Dolly, For As Many As Will she gradually withdrew from live performing and, like many other folk artists of the era, ceased to appear in Peel's playlists. However she retained her links with the folk scene and her records influenced later generations of folk and folk-rock performers, including 10,000 Maniacs, whose version of the traditional "Just As The Tide Was A-Flowing" was based on Shirley Collins' recording of the song, on her No Roses album.
Festive Fifty Entries[]
- None
Sessions[]
- Three sessions, two with Shirley and Dolly Collins, one with Shirley Collins with The Tinderbox.
- Also took part in sessions with Etchingham Steam Band (recorded 1974-10-21) and the Albion Dance Band (1976-07-20).
- Shirley and Dolly Collins
1. Recorded: 1968-05-07. First broadcast: 08 May 1968. Repeated: ?
- Whitsun Dance / Lovely Joan / God Dog / A Blacksmith Courted Me / Over The Hills And Far Away
2. Recorded: 1973-02-12. First broadcast: 15 March 1973. Repeated: ?
- Nelly The Milkmaid / The Blacksmith / Morris Dance Medley / The Banks Of The Bawn
- Shirley Collins with The Tinderbox
With duo consisting of singer-songwriter Steve Ashley and Dave Menday. Only 3 of the 8 tracks (those listed below) feature Shirley Collins, but it is listed in Ken Garner's The Peel Sessions under her name.
1. Recorded; 1969-01-28. First broadcast 05 February 1969..
- The Milkmaid / Ramble Away / Lowlands
(Please correct mistakes and add any missing info)
Other Shows Played[]
(This listing is incomplete due to a lack of playlists from the late 1960s and early 1970s. Please add any missing info if known)
- Shirley Collins
- 27 March 1968: Lovely Joan (LP - The Power Of The True Love Knot) Polydor
- 24 November 1971 (& Albion Country Band): Claudy Banks (LP – No Roses) Pegasus
- Shirley and Dolly Collins
- 28 May 1969: Nellie The Milkmaid (LP - Anthems in Eden) Harvest SHVL 754
- 18 June 1969: A Meeting (Searching For Lambs) (LP - Anthems In Eden) Harvest
- As I Roved Out: A Century Of Folk Music (Broadcast: 1999-08-28): The Ladies Go Dancing (At Whitsun)